
Before the end of the year, Coca-Cola
will make a version of its mainstay cola sweetened with U.S. cane sugar again.
The company announced the move in a press release revealing the company’s Q2 earnings. The new product will
be “part of its ongoing innovation agenda,” designed to “expand its Trademark Coca-Cola product range…[and] complement the company’s strong core portfolio, offer[ing]
more choices across occasions and preferences.”
While the company switched from cane sugar to high-fructose corn syrup for its U.S. cola output decades ago, a cane-sugar-sweetened
version of Coca-Cola made in Mexico was already available in the U.S. across many retailers.
The announcement follows a July 16 post made by Donald Trump on Truth Social. "I have been speaking
to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so," he wrote in the post.
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Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey addressed Trump’s comments
directly today in an earnings call.
“As you may have seen last week, we appreciate the president's enthusiasm for our Coca-Cola brand,” Quincey said, “and as part of our
ongoing innovation agenda, this fall in the United States, we plan to expand our trademark Coca-Cola product range with U.S. cane sugar.”
Elsewhere in the call, Quincey credited the
company’s evolved approach to marketing with helping it navigate economic challenges and meet its updated guidance for 2025, and said Coca-Cola was “investing to drive transactions in the
back half of the year.”
“Our marketing transformation allows us to more quickly test ideas, share learnings, and scale successful campaigns,” he said, citing a Q2 campaign in
Mexico highlighting the company’s “long-standing contribution to the Mexican economy.”
The company also "leaned further into consumer passion points and pulled forward our
World Cup activation, giving away a thousand tickets to next year's event. As a result of these initiatives, combined with strong local execution, monthly value share trends and consumer perception
scores improved significantly in Mexico during the quarter,” he added.
Quincey also cited Coca-Cola’s relaunch of its “Share a Coke” campaign across over 120 countries as
another marketing highlight, which he said featured “over thirty thousand names on approximately ten billion bottles and cans tailored to local markets.”
He also pointed to Minute
Maid’s partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment’s use of
“digital experiences, limited-time-only packaging, and in-store activations” as an example of the company’s new approach to marketing stemming from its investments in digital
transformation and a revamped approach to media buying and planning in recent years.
Coca-Cola’s cane sugar confirmation follows its biggest rival announcing a very different cola this
week. Yesterday, Pepsi announced the upcoming launch of Pepsi Prebiotic Cola, following
PepsiCo’s acquisition of Poppi earlier this year. And Coca-Cola announced its own line of prebiotic carbonated beverages via its Simply Soda brand.